Wild Crimson Rose: Beloved Handyman Prince’s Courtesan Wife

Rong Jian's strike made a resounding noise in the space, even the ground shook. Shen Tianyu swore she saw a crescent moon where Rong Jian's sword struck the fallen centipede. The gigantic centipede that could have been the insect equivalent of the World Serpent from Norse mythology in terms of size wiggled weakly a few more times and then stopped, remaining still forever.

The giant spider raged, waving all of its legs in the air as it lunged at Rong Jian. Rong Jian, who was standing on the now dead centipede's body, leapt away to evade the attack. The giant spider landed heavily on the ground but none of its legs pierced the centipede's body. It seemed to stumble, unsure of how to move around. Rong Jian saw this as a chance and charged at the spider with his raised to the side diagonally, the dull side facing inside. 

A sword light flashed past and the spider's head slid down and detached from its body a moment later, blood spurting from where its head was connected to the body. It's head caused a thud as it reached the ground, Rong Jian sheathing his sword and turning his back to it, no longer caring about it. The rest of the body crashed down, half of it pressing the centipede's corpse beneath it.

"Tian'er? Are you alright?" Rong Jian speed walk toward her and checked her over in the dim light, holding her by her arms.

"Mm. I'm fine. What about you?" Since she couldn't move her hands, she just looked him up and down. He wasn't the least bit ruffled, every hair on his head was where they were before the fight not a single strand out of place. 

Rong Jian sighed in relief as he let her go and naturally held onto her hand. 

"I'm fine. Let's get out of here then."

Shen Tianyu nodded and followed Rong Jian, not objecting to being led by her hand. They walked in seemingly no particular direction as everything looked he same and there was no landmarks. Suddenly, Rong Jian stopped and looked around. Shen Tianyu tilted her head, not sure what he was looking for. He then gathered spiritual power in his hand.

"Do you need some more spiritual power?" Shen Tianyu asked, since she hasn't done much fighting so her spiritual power was pretty much still full.

"It's fine. You can't see the crack so it's better not to waste it." Rong Jian replied as he slammed his hand on the ground, still holding onto her hand. 

Crick Crack

A crack formed on the ground and spread upwards as if what was in front of them was not empty darkness but a gigantic, full-length mirror.  The crack got longer and wider and white light was shining through it. It wasn't blindingly white but more like the other side was merely an expanse of white nothingness. There was no blinding light or body parts reaching out, the white light didn't illuminate the surroundings very much either. There was just pure white light emitting from pure white nothingness. No shadows, no shapes, no other colors. 

The crack slowed down once it was big enough to squeeze a person through but it was still expanding minutely. 

Rong Jian tightened his hold on Shen Tianyu's hand and looked back at her. She nodded and gripped his hand in return. They then walked through the crack into the white landscape, the masked man in front. As for what happened to the place after they left, they didn't see. 

What awaited on the other side was the same as the place from before, only it was white and bright now. But strangely, despite having been in a dark place for so long, the light wasn't blinding. There were no colors or shapes, much less indications of a door or building but Rong Jian walked ȧssuredly as if he knew the place quite well. Shen Tianyu closely followed his footsteps, trying to make sure she stepped where had stepped before. Though she had never been inside such a complicated and high-level formation, she did read quite a bit of fantasy and play a some games in her past life. In these kinds of situations, one wrong step and you could fall through and end up in another formation or back inside the formation on a different level or even get stuck here and be lost forever.

Because Shen Tianyu was being careful where she stepped, their progress was relatively slow. Even so, Rong Jian didn't get impatient or complain, merely glancing back at her with a reassuring smile from time to time. Since he didn't talk, Shen Tianyu naturally ȧssumed it was because of the place they were at and so didn't try to make conversation either.

After walking for who knows how long, Rong Jian stopped, turned, and stretched his free hand in front of himself. Shen Tianyu who had been looking down at his foot didn't notice and ended up bumping into him. She let out a gasp, unconsciously putting a hand to cover her mouth and almost apologized but remembered that they didn't talk the whole way and probably shouldn't be talking so she swallowed it back down.

Rong Jian's thumb stroked her hand comfortingly as he smiled at her. He then turned back and pushed his hand. There wasn't any visible change in the whiteness surrounding them but Rong Jian's hand was clearly sinking in. Shen Tianyu watched as Rong Jian continued pushing and step forward. She followed like a lost child behind him. 

From out of nowhere, a black light swallowed them up instantaneously, not giving either of them the time to react. Shen Tianyu fought against her instincts of closing her eyes and wanted to see if there would be new enemies waiting for them at the new location. 

When the black light faded, the two of them were standing in a well-lit place, torches and Night Pearls all around them. The rocky surfaces suggest that they were yet in another cave. Unlike before, however, the cave wasn't completely empty.. What entered Shen Tianyu's sight after the lights were the stone pillars evenly spaced around them.